Billy at 97: still passionate about the good news

Veteran evangelist Billy Graham celebrated his 97th birthday on Saturday (7 November), and his son Franklin posted on Facebook "his desire is still there to tell the world about God's love for them" …

Veteran evangelist Billy Graham celebrated his 97th birthday on Saturday (7 November), and his son Franklin posted on Facebook "his desire is still there to tell the world about God's love for them" …

Dr Billy Graham has preached all over the world since the 1950s, been the spiritual advisor for countless US presidents and seen hundreds of thousands come to faith in the UK through his stadium events and online initiatives. You can read our review of his latest book here.

On Facebook, his son Franklin Graham posted: "He came to faith in Christ just a week before his 16th birthday and went home and told his mother what he had done. He knew for sure that his heart had changed.

"Even though he’s not able to preach anymore, his mind is still clear and his desire is still there to tell the world about God’s love for them and how God sent His Son, Jesus Christ from heaven to earth to take the sins of all mankind to the cross, die, and arise on the third day.

"My father’s desire is that all men and women everywhere would come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and trust Him and follow Him as their Lord."

Steve Wade, from the charity My Hope UK which Billy Graham founded, told Premier: "He was saying 'do you think they'll still remember me in the UK?'. And for me this spoke of the humility of the man, that he would actually think that we'd forget about him.

"This is the guy who preached to over 9 million people in this country face-to-face ... over 380,000 recorded decisions for Christ, and yet he's saying 'do you think they'll still remember me?'.

"My heart's desire, his heart's desire, is that we all become bolder in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ."

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